great moments in advertising

posts about #greatmomentsinadvertising more →
Sony Has a Heart After All
Delicious But Deadly
NYT: Microsoft's Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates Ads Were a Huge Failure
Barack Can Get a Free Peek Emailer Today, And You Can Too
OLPC Ad Goes For the Jugular With Child Laborers, Child Prostitutes, Child Warriors
This Is How the Japanese Want To Sell You a Tomy Xiao TIP-521 Photo-Printing Camera
Microsoft's New Vista Ads Don't Work; Other Companies' "We Suck" Ads Did
Mob Takes Over Office Lighting To Transform Tower Into Giant Frosty Pint
Hitachi Drops Acid, Explains Terabyte Hard Drives In Crazy Cartoon
Norton Fighter, Symantec's Awesome Japanese Ad Mascot, is Back

Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.

Dsmvwl Admin Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

metal face eagle premium is not from So Cal
03/31/09

In reply to Sony Has a Heart After All
I get it. Sort of an extravagant way to make a sales pitch but it sure does look awesome.
Reply

.357
03/31/09

In reply to Sony Has a Heart After All
A multinational corporation has a heart? In other news, it's snowing in Hell.
Reply

.357 was starred .357 was unstarred

strider_mt2k
03/27/09

In reply to Delicious But Deadly
Oh man.

We're gonna need some coffee here.
Reply

strider_mt2k was starred strider_mt2k was unstarred

GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
03/27/09

In reply to Delicious But Deadly
And this is why everyone hates America.

Yeah, I know it's not FROM America, but sometimes I like beating people to the punch. While I'm at it: [thisiswhyyourefat.com]
Reply

Kaiser-Machead
03/27/09

@KingBananaHammock_GitEmSteveDa...: Isn't that site disgustingly awesome?

Bacon donuts. WTF...BACON DONUTS!
Reply

Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred

Ruthless, If you let me
03/27/09

@Kaiser-Machead: How someone could ruin bacon like that is hard to fathom. (Can you ruin bacon like that?)
Reply

GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
03/27/09

@BullLifter: They're Nannerpuss-bacon doughnuts. Those are a horse of a different color.
Reply

Purple Dave
03/27/09

@KingBananaHammock_GitEmSteveDa...:
The food...or the gun? A friend of mine is teaching in Japan, and some Canadian coworker of his is fully convinced that everyone in the US owns at least one gun. I guess what he doesn't realize is that the reason we have the world's ten best-funded militaries rolled into one is so we don't have to worry about any major wars being waged on our own soil.
Reply

Purple Dave was starred Purple Dave was unstarred

Jestermeister
03/27/09

In reply to Delicious But Deadly
what's the pistol grip made out of? Doesn't look like food...
Reply

Jestermeister was starred Jestermeister was unstarred

GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
03/27/09

@jestermeister: Those yummy vailla wafer cookies you get for like .99 in the stores. and some kit-katt bars.
Reply

Kaiser-Machead
02/04/09

In reply to NYT: Microsoft's Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates Ads Were a Huge Failure
There was a very Larry David-esque feel about the one where they were living with that family. I wanted to curse at the TV, but I couldn't help but be amused, even if there was practically nothing that was at all relevant to Microsoft other than Bill Gates.

But the reason that Mac ads work better is because they're direct. Regardless of how much it makes your bullshit meters spike, there's something to be said about a direct "They suck we rule" message, no matter how douchey.

That said, I'm tired of Mac ads. I was tired of them since they were going on about the Many Versions of Vista. They included Starter edition, which was quite blatantly disingenuous. That is all.
Reply

Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred

frigg
02/04/09

@Kaiser-Machead: For years, Mac ads were indirect, and barely addressed their own products, let alone their competitors. "Think Different." Huh? Apple's recent (or yeah, not so recent anymore) move to directly compare itself to MS marked a shift from their traditional amorphous abstractions that sold the lifestyle rather than the products.

Because their I'm A PC/I'm a Mac campaign has been so successful for them, it continues, but I share your saturation point and wonder when everyone else will be sufficiently saturated so Apple will have to do something new.

But because it's an ad, I guess the standard is efficacy over entertainment value. The Sienfeld MS ads were entertaining but sold 0 computers. The I'm A Mac/PC ads are no longer entertaining (with the exception of the X-Mas versions), but as long as they sell computers, they live to bitch-slap another day, like Mothra.
Reply

frigg was starred frigg was unstarred

frigg
02/04/09

In reply to NYT: Microsoft's Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates Ads Were a Huge Failure
Didn't Seinfeld get $10 million to do the ad? So it's not a total failure. He got something out of it.
Reply

frigg was starred frigg was unstarred

Hello Mister Walrus
02/04/09

In reply to NYT: Microsoft's Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates Ads Were a Huge Failure
Who were the subjects of the study in the NYT article? The sample of Gizmodo readers here seem to have overwhelmingly positive feedback, myself included.
Reply

OMG! Ponies!
02/04/09

In reply to NYT: Microsoft's Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates Ads Were a Huge Failure
Great article - except for the part that doesn't mention that Microsoft has multiple lines of ads and that the Seinfeld/Gates were just one of them. For example, Microsoft has a brand ad line that it runs during Sunday morning news programs that gets refreshed every so often (the line with the CEO of Quiksilver).

The fact that it doesn't compare Microsoft's ads to SAP's ads shows that the author doesn't really understand who Microsoft is really competing against.
Reply

OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred

OMG! Bacon!
02/04/09

In reply to NYT: Microsoft's Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates Ads Were a Huge Failure
Wow, I thought they were amusing at least. Quirky. I think the mac commercials (the ones just bashing microsoft while being all high & mighty) hurt the name of mac in my eyes.

I am all about humility and dislike gloating.
Reply

OMG! Bacon! was starred OMG! Bacon! was unstarred

johnnyabnormal
02/04/09

@phoenix27: "I am all about humility and dislike gloating."

In an industry that is built entirely around trying to make people think your product is better than your competition?

My favorite ads are the ones that actually make you laugh, think or are so entertaining/interesting that you forget it's even an advertisement.
Reply

johnnyabnormal was starred johnnyabnormal was unstarred

ScottRose
01/20/09

In reply to Barack Can Get a Free Peek Emailer Today, And You Can Too
Barack: "Damn, I need a shittier email device than a Blackberry or the new WinMo.Gov! Can you please get on that?"

Staffer: "Sir, that doesn't sound like something you would say.."

Barack: "Damn, you're right! It must be all this advertising!"

Staffer: "I have to go now."

Barack (to self): "This would not have happened to Bush ::sadclown::."
Reply

ScottRose was starred ScottRose was unstarred

OMG! Ponies!
01/20/09

In reply to Barack Can Get a Free Peek Emailer Today, And You Can Too
Money grab.
Reply

OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred

commentotron
12/16/08

In reply to OLPC Ad Goes For the Jugular With Child Laborers, Child Prostitutes, Child Warriors
So THAT'S how we solve these horrible problems: with laptops! Just what I'd expect from the shielded western techno-elite.

If only little suzie had a laptop she'd not have to get pimped out!
Reply

commentotron was starred commentotron was unstarred

1350ft.in.a.Concorde.blow*ng.up.balloons
12/16/08

@commentotron: It's not the laptops that will help solve the problem it's the power they will get from the knowledge they will receive by using the laptops and accessing the internet and the world. Maybe if Suzie knew how to use a computer and get some typing skills, take some online classes she could find a job. Tell me you haven't use the internet to find answers no one else knew. These children will be able to access news, weather for farming, even be able to order the things they need learn and live. We don't need to feed these people, they need to learn how to feed themselves and giving them the tools to so is better then just giving them rations and shoes.
Reply

something_unique_and_descriptive
12/16/08

In reply to OLPC Ad Goes For the Jugular With Child Laborers, Child Prostitutes, Child Warriors
Exotic locales, high production values, this thing, and all their other advertising, could not have been cheap... here's an idea, how about putting the money they spent on this towards, you know, actually shipping the damn things.
Reply

First
12/16/08

In reply to OLPC Ad Goes For the Jugular With Child Laborers, Child Prostitutes, Child Warriors
Well, what they need is an AK-47 for every child...Just like in the good old US of A
Reply

First was starred First was unstarred

ripfire
12/16/08

@winmac: Pfft. Here in the States, we use AR15.
Reply

ripfire was starred ripfire was unstarred

GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
12/16/08

@ripfire: Or an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic weapon.
Reply

Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion

Gizmodo Team

SUBSCRIBE TO Gizmodo

Login

Reset Password

Register

Submit Your Comment